Stay connected

Search form

Ministers

Alan grew up a Unitarian Universalist in Bakersfield, California. He graduated from Pomona College with a major in religion, with emphases in both mythology andphilosophy. Following college, he traveled solo for eight months in India, focusing on contemporary traditions that bring together Muslims and Hindus. Before and after this trip, he served as a residential counselor for abused children with emotional difficulties for three years before being inspired into the Unitarian Universalist ministry at the First Unitarian Church of Oakland.

He attended Starr King School for the Ministry, a Unitarian Universalist seminary that is a part of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He served two years in Massachusetts, first as Intern Minister in Worcester at the historic First Unitarian Church and then as Interim Minister at First Church Unitarian in Littleton, Massachusetts. He then accepted a call to the Woodinville Unitarian Universalist Church in the Seattle metropolitan area, where he shepherded a young congregation through the fundraising and building of their own worship home.

Since coming to Unity Temple in 2003, he has provided leadership that has resulted in significant growth within the Congregation, increased generosity, and an expansion of our ministries. In 2008, Unity Temple received the auspicious designation of Breakthrough Congregation from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation for exceptional growth in numbers, organization, and mission.

In the local community, he is a co-founder of the OPRF Walk-In Ministry, a founder of a local clergy group, and a member of the OPRF Rotary Club. He is active in the Central Midwest Chapter of UU ministers and has volunteered in numerous capacities for the sake of supporting Unitarian Universalist congregations in the midwest. On the national level, he currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association.

He is married to Angelica Taylor-Cortes. They have two children: Marco, born in 2008; and Erica, born in 2011. His interests include cooking, theater improvisation, and Mexican culture. He also enjoys racquetball, bicycling, and ping pong.

A life long Unitarian Universalist, Emily grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Within the community of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Pittsburgh, she cultivated her love for learning about what and why people believe what they do. It was this that sparked her decision to major in religion and minor in sociology/anthropology at Swarthmore College, where she graduated with honors in 1990. Feeling an urge to see—and save—the world, she joined the Peace Corps, and they sent her to Poland, where she taught English as a Foreign Language to high school students from 1991-1993.

Unsure of her next steps in life, Emily returned to Pittsburgh and to the congregation where she grew up. She became the youth advisor, and it was in those months that she realized that she was called to the ministry. It would call upon her many passions and interests in life: learning, making a difference in the world, being part of and cultivating multigenerational community, writing, creating worship, making music, teaching, and listening to peoples’ lives. She attended Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and as part of her training, served as ministerial intern at First Religious Society (Unitarian Universalist) in Carlisle, Massachusetts. That congregation ordained her to the Unitarian Universalist ministry on June 7, 1997, a few days after she earned her Masters of Divinity degree.

After ordination and graduation, the Universalist Unitarian Church of Joliet, Illinois called Emily to be their minister. She served this community from 1997-2008. During this time, the congregation sold one building, bought and renovated a new one, became a Welcoming Congregation, experienced significant growth, and otherwise served as a liberal religious beacon in the Southwest Suburbs. Emily was active in the Joliet Ecumenical Clergy Association and served as their president.

She has been at Unity Temple since August of 2008, serving as Minister of Faith Development. Her primary portfolio is to oversee the lifespan religious education programming, though she is called upon to serve in all other ministerial capacities as well.

Emily has been active in the wider Unitarian Universalist world since she was in high school, and attended youth group conferences in her district. She is part of the Chicago Area Liberal Ministers’ group and the Unitarian Universalist Ministers’ Association. She served eight years on the Central Midwest District Board, five of those as president, from 2002-2007. She was a member of the Ministerial Fellowship Committee, the Unitarian Universalist ministerial credentialing committee, serving from 2006-2011.

She is married to Karen McMillin and they have a son Paul, born in 2011. In her spare time, Emily enjoys playing the guitar and singing, taking walks, bicycling, traveling, and cheering on the Cubs.